When a brand's first watch is a perpetual calendar, it certainly gets your attention. When Antoine Martin launched in 2011 as the new venture of veteran watchmaker Martin Braun, it did so with the Quantième Perpétuel au Grand Balancier . We went hands-on with this thoroughly modern take on a classic complication at Basel World and were very impressed with what we saw. Click through for all the details.

When a brand's first watch is a perpetual calendar, it certainly gets your attention. When Antoine Martin launched in 2011 as the new venture of veteran watchmaker Martin Braun, it did so with the Quantième Perpétuel au Grand Balancier. We went hands-on with this thoroughly modern take on a classic complication at Basel World and were very impressed with what we saw. Click through for all the details.

In the small town Alpnach (near Lucerne), Martin Braun and business partner Bruno Jufer set up Antoine Martin in 2011 to create watches that push watchmaking forward both technically and aesthetically by utilizing Braun's decades of experience designing movements from the ground up.

The brand's first release, the Quantième Perpétuel au Grand Balancier, utilizes the Calibre AM 39.001, which is an entirely in-house manufacture movement incorporating technological innovations pioneered by Braun himself. It features a specially modified level escapement called the HPE (High Performance Escapement) with silicium components, twin mainsprings that provide a 6-day power reserve, a free-sprung balance, and a 17.5mm titanium balance wheel. You can see this balance beating at 18,000 vph through the sapphire window on the caseback. The Calibre AM 39.001 is also manually wound, a charming detail on an otherwise extremely modern watch.

Reading the Quantième Perpétuel's dial is as easy as it gets. Broad central hands tell the time of day with no running seconds. There are vertical windows at 10 and 2 o'clock with the day of the week and the month (respectively) and a dual-window date display at 6 o'clock as well. Up at 12 o'clock is a subdial for the leap year cycle and at 9 o'clock a simple AM/PM indicator. We're typically big fans of dial symmetry here at HODINKEE, but on this watch the asymmetrical layout works for some reason..

The case itself is quite complex too - it is comprised of 84 components and both case and dial feature a number of different finishes. There is no getting around the fact that this is a big watch, at 46mm across and 16.4mm thick, but it embraces its size rather than trying to hide it.

A number of color and metal combinations are available, including 18k white gold, 18k rose gold, and black DLC over stainless steel. The gold editions both utilize sharp black roman numerals while the DLC edition features red or white arabic numerals and a rubber strap, offering a more casual take on the Quantième Perpétuel. Prices are 72,000 CHF for each of the gold versions and 48,500 CHF for the DLC steel.